India Successfully Test Fires Undersea K-15 Missile

by OldSailor on February 26, 2008

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India today successfully test fired K-15 (earlier called as Sagarika) nuclear capable ballistic missile, from a submerged pontoon off the eastern coast. With this test firing India is preparing to join select group of countries having this expertise. The countries already having this expertise are: U.S, Russia, France,U.K. and China.

The K-15 missile is developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The missile is powered by solid propellants and is reported to be having a range of more than 700 km, 6.5 metres long and weighs about seven tonnes. The missile can carry a pay load of 600 kg warhead and is designed in both conventional and nuclear versions.

The missile is expected to be integrated as the main armament of the indigenously made nuclear submarine which is likely to enter sea trials next year.

Bravo Zulu to DRDO.

Update: November 12

India test fired today, a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) K-15 from a land-based launcher from Orissa. The land based version is named as ‘Shourya’. The missile was test fired from a 30-40 feet deep pit with in-built canister specially designed for this purpose. There was no water in the pit.The missile has a range of 600 km and flight duration of 485 seconds. The test was intended to check speed, trajectory, azimuth and other parameters of the missile. Read more from The Times of India.

Update: November 15

The “Shourya” missile that was test-fired successfully on November 12, “flew at five times the speed of sound, that is Mach 5, for 300 km” of its 600-km range, according to M. Natarajan, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. Also the missile used its indigenous navigation system with the help of a ring-laser gyroscope that has performed extremely well. Read more from The Hindu.

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